Equestrian Balance

30/09/2024

This is so cool.
My lovely Misty had melanoma and it has made me hesitant to have another grey horse. This research will help breeders make choices to reduce the likelihood of melanoma in offspring.

Recent scientific breakthroughs have shed light on the genetic mechanisms behind the greying process in horses and their connection to melanoma susceptibility.

The mutation is particularly common in some breeds, for instance Lipizzaner and Arabian horses.

The key to this phenomena lies in the Syntaxin 17 gene.

Researchers identified three variants of the gene:

G1: The wild type (this is the "normal" or original version of the gene which indicates that the horse will not go grey.)

G2: The variant has two copies of the duplicated sequence. The G2 variant is associated with a gradual/ slow greying process and has no apparent increase in melanoma risk.

G3: The variant has three copies of the duplicated sequence. The G3 variant leads to rapid greying and a significantly elevated risk of melanoma development.

A specific segment of this gene can be duplicated, and the number of these duplications directly influences both the rate of greying and the likelihood of a horse developing melanomas.

The more copies of this duplicated sequence a horse possesses, the more pronounced the greying process and the higher the melanoma risk.

Horses can carry between two and six copies of this sequence, depending on their genetic inheritance.

This discovery has profound implications for horse breeding, since through genetic screening, breeders can now employ tests to predict a horse's melanoma risk from an early age.

Using this knowledge, breeders can make strategic mating choices to influence greying rates and mitigate risks in offspring.

The study genotyped 1,400 horses and 78 breeds/populations and found the G3 variant, associated with rapid greying, is prevalent in 62 breeds, while the G2 variant, linked to slower greying, is found in only eight breeds.

This research could have far-reaching implications for understanding tumor development in horses and may pave the way for improved prevention and treatment strategies for equine melanomas.

Full details - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-51898-2

23/09/2024

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21/09/2024

As we enter the fall, and soon winter, hay production slows.

The unwanted horse ads start to appear.

“Beautiful pasture ornament available, very sweet and kind. Cannot be ridden. But only 6 years old so lots of life left!”

Or

“Retired senior horse. Very arthritic so only pasture sound. We love her but can’t justify keeping a horse we can’t ride. We also can’t keep weight on her and she costs too much to feed!”

There are not enough homes out there for horses that have health issues and are “less desirable” due to not being rideable.

Not saying it’s fair but it’s the reality.

If a person doesn’t love a horse enough to keep them through their retirement, expecting a stranger to do so does not make sense.

In fluke cases, sure you may find the unicorn retirement home that has no bad motives and actually intends to keep the horse until they pass.

But, the fact of the matter is that these types of horses are most valuable when sold to auction, usually for meat.

And if the person who lamed them or owned them into their senior years doesn’t care enough to take care of them for life, a stranger with no attachment to the horse isn’t particularly likely to.

Are there some incredibly generous and kind strangers who do this? Yes.

Are there enough of them to keep up with the “demand” of all of these unwanted horses? No.

Rather than rolling the dice and hoping that these unwanted horses will find a soft landing when they’re given away for free or cheap, consider what kindnesses are within your power to offer them.

1. You could keep them, because an unrideable horse generally costs the same as one who is ridden.

2. If you’re unwilling to do so because of their health issues and lack of “usefulness”, you could give them a humane ending with euthanasia.

Horses don’t fear death like people do. They live in the present moment. They don’t spend time worrying about their mortality or if there’s life after death.

So, if that present moment is a miserable existence, that is what their life is. Miserable. That is their reality.

If all they know in the moment is suffering, that’s what their life is comprised of.

Passing off the unwanted horse to be someone else’s issue in lieu of giving them a humane ending may feel more noble because it extends longevity of life, but it doesn’t factor in quality.

A horse being passed off from home to home, always a second class citizen due to being unrideable, isn’t a kindness.

It is humans continuously evading accountability for the care of the horse and instead passing the horse off to be someone else’s problem.

It is the humans feeling morally superior for doing so because they think keeping the horse alive is a kindness.

Even if the life is no life to live.

Or even if it is condemning the horse to be taken to the auction and sold to a kill buyer.

Love your horses enough to love them through their lack of rideability or at least give them a humane end if it’s between that and rolling the dice and throwing them into a market that is already flooded with unwanted horses.

Horses should hold value whether they’re rideable or not but currently, that’s largely not the case.

Rather than ignoring that fact, people need to be honest with themselves about what they’re actually doing.

What their choices put their horses at risk of.

Let your elderly horse pass in the home they’ve known for so long instead of throwing them out into a new environment as soon as they can no longer be ridden.

Give your lesson horses the gift of retirement after they’ve kept your business afloat instead of pawning them off when they are no longer useful.

Or give them the gift of a good death instead of just making them someone else’s problem.

If you do not love the horse that you’ve spent years bonding with enough to keep them through their “less desirable” stages of life, why would a stranger be more likely to do that for you?

Winter is coming. Don’t throw your damaged horses to the “wolves.”

Part of owning horses is caring about them enough to give them a good end.

If you feel like a bad person for euthanizing them because you know retiring them would be the kinder option, that’s likely a sign that you should buck up and keep them into retirement.

The answer is not playing Russian roulette with your horse’s quality of life.

Stop pawning old and lame horses off onto other people.

There is not the amount of kind and caring homes available that people are making it out to be.

16/09/2024

15/09/2024

Did you know I have a podcast?

'My Horse Taught Me That', is all about equine behaviour, horse-human relationships and training concepts that not only help you build an amazing relationship with your horse, but also with the other animals and people in your life too.

So fun!

Check it out. There's also links on my website to major podcast platforms if you prefer to listen that way.

12/09/2024

Equine Behaviour and Body Language.

Are you curious to learn more about Equine body language and behaviour?

This is your chance!

Learn to Speak Horse is a unique, self paced, online program. Designed to teach you to:
- Recognise and understand equine body language communication signals and behaviour,
- Learn how to respond to equine stress signals appropriately,
- Understand the 8 core equine needs and how they drive behaviour,
- Use my 5 step process to address unwanted behaviours (before starting any training)!

Here is what previous students have to say about the program:

"I’ve been looking for something like this for a really long time ... I feel a lot more confident and calmer when I’m out there with them ... I feel like we are communicating now….I don’t want it to end”.
Samara Deeg

"It has been amazing... we were missing that vital ingredient of the cake mix, you know, to get a good cake. So yeah, I’m really grateful for this."
Lisa Summers

"I feel heaps better, you know, in that (our pony) is starting to show some more relaxed signals now and we can work from there…"
Kerstin Hutchison

“I think every horse owner should do this course… it’s so important and I’ve learned a lot.”
Lisa Mantellato

What You Get inside the program:

8 modules of comprehensive video training
7 recorded tutorial sessions
2 practical exercises to do with your horse
8+ hours of video library
Community area to share video
Self paced program with lifetime access

See your horse in a whole new way.

Understand life from your horses perspective.

Communicate better with your horse.

Learn to Speak Horse is a straightforward, science-based program, with easy to follow practical steps.

It's relationship-changing for you and your horse.

I invite you to check it out at the l!nk in the comments (on original post).

01/09/2024

Floating Drama!

What is it about transporting horses that seems to invite drama?

The first time I ever travelled with a horse in tow, was the day I got my first horse. I was 14 and my courageous Mum had borrowed a vehicle and a float from a friend to collect her. It was the first time either of us had transported a horse.

We had two tyre blowouts on what was meant to be a 45-minute drive. It was a Sunday and back then roadside assistance would only come out to the drivers’ own vehicle. We didn’t know how to hook up the float, let alone change a tyre on one. Mum sweet talked them into coming out anyway and changing the tyre after the first one blew.

I didn’t want to unload Misty on the side of a highway, so I stood in the float with her as she sweated and shook and screamed. It seemed to take forever until we were underway again.

There was no spare for the second blowout and we had to limp to the only garage that was open and could sell us a tyre and fit it. Once again, I stood in the float, trying desperately to calm this beautiful horse I loved, but barely knew. All in all, it took us 4 hours to get her home.

Unbeknownst to me, this experience became the blueprint of how I would feel about transporting my horse. From that time on, I had an underlying expectation that floating would be stressful and filled with drama and that it would be a frightening experience for my horse. This unconscious belief became so strong, that the relief I’ve felt, after going somewhere with my horse and getting home without incident, is profound.

It is only recently that I realised that I was holding this expectation as a limiting belief inside me. That as such, the belief that ‘floating is stressful’, is something I could let go of. And by letting go of it, I would pave the way to me being more relaxed about floating my horse. Which, halleluiah! Would, in turn, go a long way to helping my horse be relaxed about floating too.

So I made myself a meditation to clear those limiting beliefs.

It is POWERFUL.

And now I am making it available for you.

This unique, effective sequence of 3 meditations helps you to:

- Release any limiting beliefs and associated emotions around loading and travelling your horse.

- Rewire your expectations of loading and travelling through guided visualisation.

- Receive intuitive guidance to identify the next right steps to take with your horse, to manifest a calm travelling experience. Whether that be training for, or actually loading and travelling with your horse.

Each meditation is less than 20 minutes and is set to beautiful, binaural beats music.

These guided meditations explore an inspirational equine connection, as well as being deeply relaxing and effective.

I invite you to check it out, details are in the comments section.

01/09/2024

Love this! ❤🐴

22/08/2024

Floating is Stressful as Hell!
Right?

Do you hate floating or travelling with your horse? Have you ever felt that pit of the stomach, sinking feeling of dread when it comes time to put your horse on the float?

Or perhaps you get that feeling just thinking about needing to put your horse on the float?

I feel you.

To say floating has never been my favourite is like the understatement of the century. I suppose I view it as a necessary evil for horses in today’s world. I have of course transported my horses’ places over the years, as they’ve moved properties, been to the vet’s and there was a time when I went regularly to adult riding club and even did a few competitions here and there.

But. Every time I needed to transport my horse, I’d get the sweaty hands and the racing heart. Try as I might to appear calm to help my horse be calm, they could always tell.

But recently, I had an epiphany.

You see, I’ve been working a lot lately with clearing any limiting beliefs that may be blocking me from progressing as I’d like to in other areas of my life. (limiting beliefs are beliefs we have picked up from childhood or previous experiences that can interfere with our ability to achieve our goals).

So anyway, I had been thinking about floating and I was like "Of course! I must have so many limiting beliefs around floating, after ALL the floating dramas I’ve experienced. No. 1 being: Floating is stressful as hell."

No frigging wonder my horses are hesitant to get on the jolly float. My whole body is probably screaming "This is stressful as hell!" at them.

So I made myself a meditation to clear those limiting beliefs

This unique, POWERFUL sequence of 3 meditations helps you to:

- Release any limiting beliefs and associated emotions around loading and travelling your horse.

- Rewire your expectations of loading and travelling through guided visualisation.

- Receive intuitive guidance to identify the next right steps to take with your horse, to manifest a calm travelling experience. Whether that be training for, or actually loading and travelling with your horse.

Each meditation is less than 20 minutes and is set to beautiful, binaural beats music.

These guided meditations explore an inspirational equine connection, as well as being deeply relaxing and effective.

I invite you to check them out by clicking the link in the comments section.

22/08/2024

THE TRUTH ABOUT WILD MARES AND THE MYTH OF FOALING ANNUALLY
If you are not living under a rock, you will know that a very famous Racehorse and Broodmare recently died here in Australia. There has been a LOT of media coverage and social media dissection of how and why she died.
The amount of commentary which compares this mare – a Thoroughbred – to Brumbies has been stunning. These are all real comments and statements from just one post today:
‘Horses in the wild breed on foal heat without exception and without the benefit of first rate care.’
‘In nature, a mare will go in foal year after year.’
‘Horses are designed to have a foal each year as they would in the wild.’
Now, completely aside from the fact that ANYONE who knows horses – and to be honest, probably anyone who doesn’t know horses – would know that Thoroughbreds are about as far as you can get along the equine spectrum from Brumbies, these statements about wild mares are all uneducated misinformation.
The romance about wild mares having a foal every year and being healthy and strong is just that – a romance! Mares in the wild have been scientifically proven to – at most - foal two times out of every three opportunities to do so. That means that every three years, they MAY have two foals. One full rest year every three years, minimum. NOT 9 foals and 3 miscarriages in 11 years. One foal every second year is more likely.
Wild mares live with stallions and are surrounded by other stallions all year every year and yet they DON’T have a foal every year. Wild mares are not subjected to breeding hobbles, twitches, being stabled under lights and injected with hormones to bring them into oestrus at a more convenient time for people and they’re not routinely scanned via their re**um to assess what stage of their cycle they’re at.
Being a wild mare is no walk in the park either though. Even foaling less often than their domestic cousins, wild mares simply don’t live as long as they would in domesticity. The oldest wild mare we have ever taken in was aged by our Veterinarian at around 14 years old. In 700 Brumbies, we have never encountered an older wild mare. Why? Because even foaling less often than a domestic mare might, foaling is hard work for their body and it comes with dangers. Wild mares can suffer from any of the foaling associated conditions that domestic mares suffer from. The only difference is that they receive no help and they’re not impregnated as frequently as many domestic mares.
I guess that we also need to define that ‘first rate care’ that people refer to in their comparisons. Wild mares have the freedom to choose how they spend their time. They are active – moving up to 25km per day, which keeps their muscle tone strong and their feet healthy. Wild mares live in healthy, functionally social family groups with other mares, youngsters and their stallion. Wild mares live on a 100% roughage based diet, just as all horses were designed to do. Wild mares wean their foals when they’re ready and often choose to stay with their daughters for many years or life. That sounds like a ‘first rate’ life to me.
We have older mares living here at our Brumby Junction Sanctuary who are now aged in their late twenties and one in her early thirties. All were caught in their early teens and haven’t had a foal since. They’ve had a chance to take advantage of all of their nutritional intake to maintain their own body and they’ve lived active lives, with family groups in grassy, hilly paddocks.
We love our mares. Mothers, grandmothers and daughters, hearts of our herds.
Wild or domestic, all mares live a hard life but I know which life I’d choose! To all the Mother mares gone to soon, we see you, we thank you. Rest easy.
Photo shows VBA Jasmine - aged at about Two and a half with her new foal - conceived wild, born here at Brumby Junction.

19/08/2024

RIP Black Caviar.

This article raises so many questions, not least the absolute lack of consent these horses have as part of most breeding operations.

Once, as a more naïve and much younger person, I took my mare to stud, hoping to fulfil my dream of having her foal. But after witnessing her being hobbled, and then twitched AND hobbled after she kicked out and broke the first set of hobbles (clearly saying NO in the only way she could), I came away feeling awful, like I'd just paid to have my best friend rap*d.

This article sheds light on this issue. On the absolute lack of any form of consent afforded to horses during most breeding operations. We can and need to do much better by horses.

When journalist Lucie Marr-Morris was invited to meet Black Caviar in retirement, she was shocked by the details of the champion mare's new life on a stud farm.